PANAMA CITY – Nearly 26,000 Bay County academics returned to their study rooms early Wednesday morning.
When the youth began their first assignment and met their teachers, bay District school officials traveled to several schools to register and participate in the excitement of day one.
Superintendent Bill Husfelt approached Southport Elementary to discuss his most sensible priorities for the new school year: school safety, new technologies and staffing issues.
Officials were there all summer for the school year, and Husfelt said he’s immensely proud of everyone for the number of paintings they’ve provided.
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“The schools are just impeccable. There’s been a lot of work every year to prepare us for schools and it’s a team effort,” Husfelt said. “It’s not just one person, it’s a team, so I’m very proud of our schools and our leadership and each and every single one making everything mandatory to make sure kids have a wonderful first day. “
At the dawn of the new year, Husfelt said one of the most sensible priorities is to increase school safety.
In the wake of the shooting in Uvalde, Texas, on May 24, BDS stepped up security measures by adding more armed security, lockdown systems, and cameras on campuses.
“We inspect our schools. We do wonderful inspections to make sure that all the doors are locked, that the classroom doors are locked,” Husfelt said. “We have a wonderful partnership with Sheriff Tommy Ford and his team. We’ve tried to do everything we can to make sure our campuses are safe. “
BDS officials held a news conference on June 8 to discuss their school protection plans after Gov. Ron DeSantis signed HB 1421, which targets school protection and enforced recommendations from the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School Public Safety Commission.
Other safety measures come with two main systems with the Bay County Sheriff’s Office: the School Ranger Program and the Tutor Program.
The School Guard program is an alert formula that school principals and some teachers have on their phones to directly alert law enforcement if an active shooter scenario occurs.
The Guardian program allows some teachers, staff and principals to receive the same education on active shooters as law enforcement and bring weapons to campus after completing six weeks of education over the summer.
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Another more sensible precedence is the generation in schools, with updates that began just two years ago. Husfelt said the district is “very close” to having new computers and smart forums in all schools.
High schools and colleges get new computers, while elementary schools get the most productive school computers and new computers. Classrooms will also benefit from interactive smartboard technology, which allows photographs from a computer screen to be displayed on a flipchart and virtual projector.
The generation’s upgrade has been a major success, with many seeing an improvement in their courses and academics being drawn to the new format, Husfelt said.
“Which is very good, when the teachers told me they didn’t need computers, they were just looking for typewriters. And now I think if I tried to take your smart board technology. . . they would try to beat me,” Husfelt joked. They count on that. “
With shortages affecting school districts across the country, Husfelt said it’s tricky to hire teachers as Bay County reports primary population growth.
“We have a severe teacher shortage, so we want to hire more teachers and the expansion is going away,” Husfelt said.
However, the number of personnel has been increasing since Hurricane Michael.
Husfelt also addressed COVID challenges as the new year approaches and said the district is following recommendations from the Bay County Health Department. As for the monkeypox virus, he added that this is a challenge right now.
Bachelor’s degrees for his own hopes for the school year, Husfelt said, as he banged on a wooden table, he is able to, despite everything, start an overall year after four eventful years.
Bay County students have had a difficult 4 years with Hurricane Michael and the pandemic that has affected their school and private lives. Husfelt said everyone deserved a big pat on the back for overcoming so much.
“I’m proud of how far he’s come, and rarely does he get so focused on what he needs to do to get how far he’s come,” Husfelt said. we have come. . . we have traveled a great distance from where we were in October 2018. “